China - two new power stations a week

Watching the 10 o’clock news tonight (in my dressing gown), a BBC report said China is opening two new coal power stations every week - the equivalent in carbon emission of two-million cars.

The report said a Dutch think tank now believes the country could be the biggest polluter in the world, overtaking the US.

John Ashton, a UK envoy, said the surge in power stations was to meet the growing demand for goods and a better lifestyle And a large part of that demand is coming from Europe and the US for cheap products.

A Chinese diplomat pointed out that the country’s politicians were trying to raise the standard of life for the population. More than 200 million of China’s 1.3bn people live on less than a dollar a day (according to the World Bank).

Mr Ashton added that if any talks were to take place with China on cutting carbon, the UK would have ensure its policies were a good example to the rest of the world.

China awaits universal cellphone charger

By Yan Yan

Thanks to bus thieves and cellphone updates, I have a small collection of chargers at home. Now they may all become redundant because a new law has been enforced by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) in China.

A report from CRI English says:

“…[A]ll cell phones made in China are required to use a universal charger interface, based on the USB slot, in a bid to cut waste and lower user costs, according to MII.

Experts estimate that the new standard may save nearly 2.4 billion yuan (US$300 million) each year for handsets made in China if the cost of each charger is set at around seven yuan to eight yuan, according to Lou Peide, executive secretary-general of the China Mobile Communications Association.

Currently, more than 15 models of new chargers from 14 suppliers are approved to be sold in China, according to the ministry.”

A green helpline? Whatever next…

      Now then – on this theme of money and environment, Alex Lambie, founder of an international climate-change initiative called One Earth, today launched greenhelpline.com

It is the sister site of energyhelpline.com, an independent utilities switching site. But this also shows all the green tariffs available.

The website can to calculate the reduction of switching to a green tariff.

He claims, “There is capacity in the UK this year for 500,000 homes to make the switch to electricity tariffs using 100 per cent renewable energy sources and greenhelpline.com aims to hit this target to ensure that demand for renewable energy finally outstrips supply.”

The data centre that runs on wind

IBM and BT are apparently working with a company called Smartbunker to build high-performance data centres powered entirely by renewable energy.

Now when anyone says they are carbon neutral or use zero carbon, your journalist alarm bells should start to ring.

You have to be careful how they measure it. Do they mean they emit nothing and use local, organic materials etc, or, as many companies do, do they just offset the emissions after the job is done?

So look at this initiative, and bear that little gem in mind as they claim they’re not offsetting.

Smartbunker’s zero carbon energy policy is a preferable alternative to ‘carbon offsetting’ in which carbon emitted by traditional energy supplies is theoretically neutralised by projects designed to extract carbon from the environment. Smartbunker provides a new concept for customers looking for a highly competitive managed hosting service with minimal environmental impact.

“The zero carbon energy used in the data centre costs a little more than standard supplies but this is offset by the power saving derived from the design of our infrastructure. All the elements of Smartbunker’s design, combined with Centrinet’s proven expertise, guarantees that our customers have all the service and environmental benefits at no additional cost,” said Kelly Smith, managing director at Smartbunker. …

Nano newspapers and organic cool light

Next-generation newspapers, organic photovoltaics (cool light) and nano-technololgy are to be researched an developed at a new science facility up in’t north of UK [oo K].

The plastic electronics sanctury is being headed up by Cenamps and will be based in County Durham.

Ten top recycling tips

I know, I know, it’s cheesy PR all over. But it’s also a bit useful.

The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is urging householders to rethink the way they approach waste if we’re to avoid becoming lost to landfill.  The UK sends more rubbish to landfill than any other European nation and we only have about nine years before space runs out.

IChemE’s top ten tips to reduce, reuse, recycle are:

1. Plan ahead. Buy what you know you’ll use during the weekly shop instead of buying on impulse – you’ll end up throwing less away.

2.  Heat and shrink. Plastic bottles or containers can be shrunk using leftover boiling water from your kettle. …

France buys CO2 credits from China

By Yan Yan in Beijing

Carbon trading, whether you like it or not, is now happening all over the world. The Kyoto Treaty, signed by many major countries of the world in 1997, set limits on the amount of greenhouse gases countries can emit. But it also means you can buy credits back if you go over your limit.

The Yangcheng Daily in Guangdong Province reports that France is buying 3.6 million tons of carbon dioxide discharge capacity.

“Wind Power Generating Co. Ltd of Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co. Ltd and EDF Trading of France recently signed a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project purchase agreement in Beijing…

China’s exploitable wind resources reach one billion kilowatts, ranking first in the world. The Guangdong company has so far launched three wind power projects in China, with combined installed capacity reaching 400,000 kilowatts. It is expected to reduce discharge of carbon dioxide by about 3.6 million tons by 2012…”

Toronto plugs Hybrid cars

Toronto is moving forward with a project to further increase the efficiency of hybrid cars.

A123 Systems is behind the nifty little widget and in this photo you can see CEO David Vieau meeting US president George Bush to show off his gizmo.

“A consortium of Toronto fleet owners, including the City’s and Province’s own fleets, will soon be plugging some of their vehicles into a pilot program designed to test the performance of a new breed of hybrid vehicles that promise to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 40 - 60 percent when partially fueled with Ontario’s electricity.

The Toronto Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle Pilot Project was developed by the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF), a City of Toronto agency, in partnership with Hymotion, an Ontario transportation engineering company, and its parent company, A123Systems, a Massachusetts lithium ion battery
company. The project will convert 10 conventional hybrid vehicles into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) that can be charged up at any power outlet, allowing them to double their all-electric range and stretch gas mileage to an amazing 2.4 litres/100 kilometres or 100 miles per gallon.

Firms boast of green feats

I counted no fewer than seven full-page adverts from companies boasting of their environmental business in this week’s print edition of the Economist.

Petrol firms Total and Exxon Mobil, nuclear energy company Areva, photographic giant Canon, energy firm Enel, the Carbon Trust and aviation company EasyJet were all plastered throughout the magazine.

$11bn hydropower plan sparks tension in Amazon

Proposals for a massive hydroelectric power plant in Brazil are causing arguments in the region because of the damaging effect it would have on diverse fish stocks.

The area targeted for the plant, Rondonia, is one that has already been deforested. According to the New York Times, officials are keen to keep economic growth up with the likes of China.

“How that dispute is resolved, advocates on both sides say, could determine nothing less than Brazil’s vision of its future at a moment when it is simultaneously facing energy and environmental pressures and casting envious glances at faster-growing developing countries, like India and China.

Unhappy with Brazil’s anemic rate of growth, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has made the economy the top priority of his second term, which began in January. Large public works projects, including the dams here on the Madeira River, are envisioned as one of the best ways to stimulate growth.”

Greenbang tracks the explosion of the environmental industry, reporting on news of green innovation and thought leadership.

We blog on this rather than the environmental problems of the world because we are interested in the answers to climate change.